Tie plate



May 25, 19,31. R. w. FRAWLEY E1' Al. 1,807,062

' I TIE PLATE l Filed July 1, 1950 ZAMQL'M Patented May 26, 1931 RAYMOND w. FRAWLEY AND GEORGE c. Bauman, or BIRMINGHAM, aLaBaMa V'rra PLATE Application filed July 1, 1980. Serial No. 465,206.

This invention relates to improvements in tie plates having Ithe usual top rail seat portion and rail abutment and provided with a novel bottom or tie engaging portion comprising a plurality of blunt rounded ribs with shallow arcuate grooves between them, which grooves are bridged by transversely extending pointed ribs.' The pointed ribs preferably beinglocated under lo the rail seat and extending transversely of the plate or in the direction of the length of the rail adapted to 'be supported on the tie plate. Pre erably,v the grooves separat-v ing the rounded ribs taper downwardly and outwardly at their ends and the arrangement is suchthat'the lower extremities of the rouudedxribs and the pointed ribs lie inthe same plane. The invention further consists in various features ff of structure and arrangementvdescribed, illustrated and. pointed out vwith particularity in the appended claims.

preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view showing'the rail seat portion of the tie'plate;

Fig. 2 is an inverted plan showing the tieY engaging portionof the plate;

Fig. 3 is asection on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Referring in detail to the drawings, the 'upper surface of the tie plate is provided with a rail seat portion 10 and a transversely extending rail abutment 12.

The under surface or tie engaging portion of the tie plate includes a plurality of longitudinally extending ribs 14 lwhich as clearly shown in Fi 4 are rounded at 16 at their lower extremlties. The ribs 14 are separated by shallow arcuate grooved portions 18 which at their ends terminate in ldownwardly and outwardly extending fiat sloping portions 20. At their extremities,- these sloping portions merge into the 'lat surfaces 22 which' extend transversely at each end ofthe tie plate.

Bridgingl the grooves 18, We referably provide a plurality of pointed ri s 24 and 5o 26. There is a separate rib 24C bridging each provides complimentary grooves which ingroove near one end of the tie plate'and there is a separate rib ,26 bridging each groove at a location near the other end of the tie plate. The pointed ribs 24 vand 26 jointly form a parallel row-of ribsjwhich extend transversely below the rail seat l0.

The construction defined is an im rove- -ment over tie plates heretofore available. -The rounded ribs have less tendency to split the tie than sharp ribs provided on tie plates of the rior art. The rounded ribs'are also desirable' from the standpoint of manufacture because'the tie plates of this character are preferably made of rolled metal. ,By providing blunt rounded ribs. certain rolling ldifficulties are avoided because there is a better dlstribution of `rolling stresses providing al construction in which the longitudinally extending ribs have a relatively great mass. i This is of importance especiall where the ribs extend transversely to thediirection of rolling.' -There is less diiiiculty in rolling the sharp ribs 24 because the rolls for forming these have only to be provided as well as the end portions 22-22, lie in thc same plane. This gives au even bearing surface so that when the tie ly uniformly. A v

The rounded bearing surfaces 16 of the ribs 14 are advantageousas they avoid cutting the fibers of the tie apart as the sharp ribs of rior tie plates do. The 'rounded ribs gradua ly compress the fibers of the tie downwardly as well as sidewise so that the load transmittedy by the tie plate is balanced on the tie. 'The yielding of the wood fibers plate is initially installed, the load is distributed Isubstantialterlock with the rounded ribs. This gives an increased or extended bearing surface for the underside of the tie plate and also prevents the latter from slipping crosswise of the tie.

The intermediate pointed ribs 24 and 26 andA the rows of ribs at each end of the tie plate which are formed by the sloping portions 20, the at surfaces 22 and the ends of the plate stiften and brace the plate in a direction parallel to the 1"'1 fr th of. the rail or the rail abutment. These ribs and 26 and the-rib-like portions 22 sink into the tif; sufficient depth to prevent the tie plate from slipping lengthwise. of the tie. The configuration of the tie engaging bottom portion of the plate as shown and described is advantageous because of the provision of a plurality of recessed areas into which the wood fibers near the surface of the tie are '-forced by compression in four directions,

but in such vmanner as to not disturb the fibers of the wood in the plane of shearing at the bottomof the tie plate. i

While the tie plate illustrated is provided with a canted rail seat l0, it will of course be understood that the tie plate may have a fiat seat substantially parallel to the undersurface thereof or in some instances the rail engaging seat may becambered.

lVhile we have described quite specifically the tie platexillustrated it is to be understood that various equivalents may be substituted without departure from the invenion as defined with particularityin the ap pended claims.

lVhat we claim is:

1. A tie plate comprising a top portion having a rail seat and a rail abutment, a

bottom tie engaging portion having a plurality of blunt rounded ribs with shallowv arcuate grooves between them and trans- Versely extending pointed ribs bridging said grooves.

A tie plate comprising a top portion having a rail seat and a rail abutment, a tie engaging bottom portion having longitudinally extending rounded ribs with shal-` low' arcuate grooves between the1n, said grooves terminating at their ends in downwardly and outwardly extending surfaces, and pointed ribs parallel to the rail abutment extending transversely across said grooves, the lower extremities .of the rounded ribs and the pointed ribs lying in substantially the same plane.

3. A tie plate substantially as described comprising a top rail seat portion having a transversely extending rail abutment, a tie engaging portion comprising a plurality ,of parallel longitudinally extending ribs whose lower extremities are rounded, said rounded ribs being separated by shallow arcuate grooves, which terminate at each end of the tie plate in flat downwardly sloping surfaces.

4. A tie plate substantially as described comprising a top rail seat portion having a transversely extending rail abutment, a tie engaging portion comprising a plurality of parallel longitudinally extending ribs whose lower extremities are rounded, said rounded ribs being separated by shallow arcuate` 

